Corrosion resistance of TiN coatings produced by various dry processes

The corrosion resistance of a TiN surface prepared by plasma-based ion impl antation (PBII) was compared with that of TIN coating films prepared by spu ttering deposition, plasma spraying, and shielded vacuum are deposition. Th e corrosion test with the potentiodynamic polarization curve shows that the PBII sample had the best corrosion resistance. The SEM observation indicat es that there was no pinhole on the TiN surface prepared by PBII. However, a lot of pinholes were observed in the TiN coating films prepared by the ot her dry coating processes. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserv ed.